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March 24, 2005
On the rocks
A rockery looks good in a garden. Zahrah Nasir writes about how to build one and put in suitable plants
A rockery makes a wonderful focal point in any garden, no matter how big or how small the garden in question may be. The rockery can be as large or small as you wish, although I have noticed here and there that extremely large rockeries tend to look most un-natural, rather like out of place mountains of ‘stuff’ similar to those surrounding locations such as marble quarries and coal mines.
Actually, a rockery really should not appear ‘contrived’ if it is to be really attractive. A well-designed, well-placed and well-planted rockery can be a real treat, particularly if you are able to illuminate it with a few judiciously placed lights after dark.
If you have an existing rockery, man-made or natural, and if it’s the latter then you are off to a head start, but if you have to construct one from scratch then be prepared to be patient. It is not merely a matter of piling up earth and sticking a few rocks in it but a much more complex business.
Firstly, you need to decide the site for your rockery, keeping in mind that it must not be placed directly over items such as manhole covers, electricity cables, telephone wires, water pipes etc, for if a problem arises with one of these services you don’t have to dismantle your rockery in order to get things fixed.
Rockeries incorporating a wall of your house are not a good idea either as they can cause damp patches to appear on your interior walls and also, eventually, affect the building’s foundation in that immediate area.
Therefore, have a good look around your garden, from different angles and at different times of the day, and try to imagine how a rockery would fit in with whatever else you have there. I have seen some so-called rockeries which are nothing more than chunks, even pinnacles, of honeycombed rocks and ‘fake rocks’, cemented almost vertically into place right up to the top of boundary walls with pots of plants wired into place.
An aesthetic nightmare and I really can’t imagine who would pay to have such a monstrosity built on their premises.
Once you have selected the location and decided on the size, shape and height, the next thing you have to do is start digging. The very opposite to what you expected! You need to excavate a hole to the depth of approximately two feet, piling the earth neatly to one side.
The hole should be lined with a six inches to one feet deep layer of small stones to facilitate drainage and even though one tends to think that a rockery will naturally drain itself, this water, particularly during the monsoons, also needs to be able to seep away.
Once this is done then the earth which was previously removed should be piled back in. Obviously it won’t all fit and you will have a mound of excess soil left on the top. Water your pile of earth thoroughly and it will soon start sinking back down to a more manageable level.
This soil, comprised mostly of sub soil, is not good for growing things in but makes an excellent foundation for what comes next.
Now comes the more difficult, and, if you are not careful, rather expensive job of finding and purchasing the kind of artistic stones which will be the mainstay of your rockery.
Remember that stones are heavy things both to transport and then to put into place.
Embed your stones into the earthen base in whichever way you choose, making sure that they will not topple over with the first hint of a breeze. Then pack good quality earth, mixed half and half with either well-rotted manure or organic compost, around the stones and water again.
Water your rockery every other day for a couple of weeks or so, by which time the new earth will have settled to a degree and you may like to top it up and repeat the process. If you feel your stones are getting too buried then stop right there or add a few more chunks of rock.
Once rockery construction is completed then you still need to exercise restraint as it should be left to just sit for another month at least before you begin the final phase of planting. The reason for waiting is to ensure that all settlement has taken place properly. You don’t want to put all your plants in and then have your rockery fall to bits.
The range of rockery plants you have to choose from will vary greatly from one area of the country to another and a leisurely stroll around your local nurseries would give you some ideas of the type of plants available, both of an annual and perennial varieties.
I feel it is good to mix both annuals and perennials as, quite often, the annuals tend to provide more colour, the perennials more shades and shapes of greens.
You may want plants that trail down or scramble up the rockery, rooting as they go but do remember that these may completely obscure plants which are not quite so rapacious.
Amongst the most attractive annual flowers for rockeries are: mesembryanthemums, mimulus, lobelia, alyssum, petunias, pansies, limnanthes, nemophila, silene, nasturtiums and verbena.
Good perennial rockery plants include various types of ferns and ornamental grasses; thyme, centranthus, aubrietia, dwarf campanulas, cerastium, cladanthus, tuberous rooted begonias, variegated ivy and a wide variety of bulbous plants which are low growing in nature.
Obviously you must select your rockery plants with care as varieties which grow in the cooler northern areas will, in the majority of cases, not tolerate the heat of cities such as Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.
Once you have got your rockery plants safely home then, in the cooler part of the day, carefully extract them from their pots, with as much earth as possible attached to the roots, dig a hole of a corresponding size in the selected location, pop in the plant, firmly press down the earth around it, give it a good drink of water, then stand back and admire your creation. Wow!
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